Chinese Students and Western Teachers: Reflections on Practice

By Daryl Johnson, School of English. As the number of Chinese students attending foreign HE institutions continues to grow (89,540 in 2014-2015 up from 87,895 in 2013-2014, UKCISA), the same kinds of frustrations experienced by their lecturers and seminar leaders appear to have persisted. A relatively unanimous consensus amongst Western teachers of Chinese students is …

Planting State Messages in the Chunwan

By Dr. Zhengxu Wang, Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. Chunwan, or the Spring Festival Gala, refers to the annual show staged by CCTV (Chinese Central Television) at Chinese New Year’s Eve. It has run since the early 1980s. Through the years its content, style, and much else have, of course, changed greatly, …

China’s Innovation: From Where It Came and to Where It Will Go?

By Professors Yutao Sun and Cong Cao China’s innovative capacity has been on the rise and China’s innovation system is still state-led. However, when we talk about “China’s innovation” in a knowledge-based and globalized economy, we have to first figure out what “China” and “innovation” mean. Specifically, we need to call into question things such …

Death Controversy Exacerbated by Institutional Failure

By Dr. Zhengxu Wang, Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. On Friday (23 December 2016), Beijing’s Procuratorate of the Fengtai District announced that, after a thorough investigation, it came to the conclusion that police officers involved in the death of a man in May would not be charged. The decision was a perplexing …

‘May You Live in Interesting Times’

School of Contemporary China Studies Assistant Professor David O’Brien looks ahead to what the Year of the Rooster might hold for China. There is a well-known supposed Chinese blessing that is in fact a curse – ‘may you live in interesting times’. Whether it will turn out to be a blessing or a curse it …

Are the Chinese ‘losing their gestures’?

A conversation between David H. Fleming (International Communications) & Simon Harrison (School of English). The University of Nottingham Ningbo China. A common interest among researchers in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences is discourse and communication. Because definitions of discourse and communication are domain-specific, interesting debates arise about the nature of the terms that …

Behind China’s Media Convergence Campaign

By Dan WANG, Ph.D Candidate, Hong Kong Baptist University. Media convergence has been proposed and reinforced by the central government since 2014. So far, most newspaper organizations at all political levels have acted upon the call by equippin

Star Player’s Extramarital Affair yet Another Sign of the Failing Team

By Dr. Zhengxu Wang, Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. During the last two weeks, China’s social media has been dominated by the sex scandal of a star badminton player. Known as “probably the best badminton player ever”, the two-time Olympic men’s single champion, Lin Dan, was found in an extramarital affair with …

Donald Trump and China

By Emmanuelle Lazzara, PhD Candidate. From the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham UK. “It’s not like I’m anti-China. I just think it’s ridiculous that we allow them to do what they’re doing to this country, with the manipulation of the currency, that you write about and understand, and all …

Zhibo – The New Trend of Live-Streaming

By Tony Hong, PhD Candidate from the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, UNNC. I had a strange request asked of me a few days ago while working in my office – “You need to watch this guy! He’s hilarious!” Expecting to see a short humorous video, I was instead treated to some guy attempting to …